AN: Sigh. This took longer than I expected. School really took away a large part of my free time. I can luckily write on the story while I am in the train (since I gotta use a train to get to school) but of course it does take up more time and days until I'm done. However, at least this became a long and really neat chapter in my opinion and I hope you guys like it. I assume the next chapter will come out in two or three weeks again, but maybe we are lucky and I am faster, we'll see. I have not forgotten about this story and I promise this story will be finished, I have so many great ideas you guys will love - and some will blow your mind, I promise. :) But for now, have fun reading!
Afternoon. Strong rain and thunder keeps Tokyo awake. Ragyo is in her presidential office, taking a look outside down to the city, while Nui lies on the desk of the director, looking at the ceiling - she is 15 now. The door opens, and the 16 year old Satsuki appears. Ragyo turns to Satsuki. Her daughter has a bag on her right arm - seemingly for school.
"Mother."
"My daughter. You should be in the manor." Ragyo notices.
"Yes. However, I need to talk with you. Some time ago, you ordered me to find a group of young people for the Honnouji-Academy. Back then, we were in the pavillion of our manor. You might remember."
"I do."
"I found four people that shall support my cause."
"Ah?" Ragyo reacts interested and walks to Satsuki. Satsuki pulls out a folder with several sheets of paper, which she then pins onto a wall. Four names, images and some information is visible. Nui takes a look at it, bored, but with a slight smile.
"Heyyyyyy, Satsuki, how you doin?" Nui grins. Satsuki doesn't react. The three women take a look at the wall.
"Nonon Jakuzure. You know her already. I chose her as she is loyal to me, even in death she would stay on my side. She is, what I would call a "best friend." She'd do everything for me." Satsuki starts to explain. Ragyo investigates the documents Satsuki brought with her, while Nui peeks over Ragyo's shoulder.
"Ira Gamagoori. An extraordinary resolve and strong man. His power and strength is fueled by the pain he suffers from - I met him in my school. With a bit more time, he could become an idol of discipline, and a man that will never surrender." Satsuki continues. Ragyo nods.
"Uzu Sanageyama. Seemingly vain and a daredevil. He would never decline a battle, no matter how bad the chances are for him. Sanageyama is athletic, smart, and well trained in combat, especially with swords. With him and Gamagoori, Honnouji-Academy will be a reign of terror for those that do not wish to develope their powers. Natural selection..."
"I see."
"Houka Inumuta. A very intelligent man. He does seem to avoid confrontations, however, he is able to draw out every single detail of a person, their behaviour, their way of fighting, you name it. He calls this "data." Inumuta is the man who tried to hack into your corporation. I could use a man with such a great intellect. Knowing your enemy is the key to defeating them, according to him, and I agree it is a valuable tool." Satsuki finishes. Ragyo takes a closer look. On each document, several sentences and key points are written on, clean, but precise. Satsuki seems to know her friends very well, as Ragyo notices. Nui takes a look as well.
"Who are these snoring noses?" Nui grins and turns to Satsuki.
"Nui, leave the room." Ragyo orders. Nui looks surprised.
"What, why?" Nui asks curious.
"Satsuki and I have to talk. I do not need you right now."
"Alrighty!" Nui chuckles and leaves the office while Satsuki speaks to Ragyo.
Nui arrives in Hoomaru's office. Nui's observant looks up to her as she stands in front of her.
"Nui." Hoomaru greets calm.
"Hoomaru, my favorite human right after Satsuki! What are you doing right now?!" Nui asks curious and leans over Hoomaru's computer. A thunder rings out.
"Working, as you see."
"How boring."
"You have no idea..." Hoomaru answers.
"See, if you would have became Couturier, we both could sew some great clothes!"
"You don't get to choose your life path." Hoomaru answers. Nui sits down next to Hoomaru and looks at the computer. It does look boring indeed. Essentially, Hoomaru has a few monitors with open programs and documents, and there is also one program that displays the security measures of all the major facilities REVOCS has - obviously the REVOCS HQ for example, the main manufacture in Nagoya, or the port manufacture in Kanazawa, prefecture Ishikawa. REVOCS seems to have several large manufactures, spread all over Japan, but the one in Nagoya is the largest next to the REVOCS HQ.
"What led you to me, Nui?" Hoomaru asks.
"I'm bored."
"Hm. Well, I'm bored as well."
"It's like your weird office at home."
"Yes. I remember you took the flower vases from my office and took the water inside them to water the garden. I wasn't even angry at you because it was too hilarious to think about it. It still is." Hoomaru chuckles. Nui smiles.
"I did what Lady Ragyo ordered me to do!" Nui laughs.
"And you destroyed my computer."
"Well yes, but that was not on Ragyo's behalf."
"I'm grateful you destroyed it. If you wouldn't have done that, I probably still would sit there with the annoying Mr. Kuroido, hearing him rant about you."
"I could hurt Mr. Kuroido, if Lady Ragyo says so!" Nui smiles.
"Honestly, Nui? I believe it would be more fun to just annoy him. In general, killing people, as... well, as much as you like to hurt people, should be your last option."
"Why's that?"
"You could gain useful information. I know you are a very curious girl, and Lady Ragyo already said you should use your kind appearance as a tool, so why don't use it to find more out before doing the dirty work?"
"Hmmm..."
"Well, anyway, I'm glad you got to destroy my computer." Hoomaru grins. Nui chuckles.
"No problem, dear. You are still weird though."
"We all are weird, Nui."
"Except for me! I'm great."
"You are." Hoomaru answers to appeal Nui. Nui wouldn't attack Hoomaru, but having Nui on your side, as much as she would despise you, can be a huge advantage. And it seems like Hoomaru and Nui have a relationship that seems to be fully alright - Nui often insults and attacks Hoomaru verbally, yet there seem to be small lights in which both seem to laugh together. Of course this doesn't make Nui being a mean person to Hoomaru better. But it does show that there is a different side in her.
"So how are you doing?" Nui's observant asks.
"Like always. Bored by everyone. I want to have fun! Satsuki never plays with me, not even if I annoy her! I just want to play." Nui complains.
"I understand that. Lady Ragyo does not want you to interact with humans, unless it's Lady Satsuki or me... well, and maybe that security clown Yamamoto, which we luckily never need to see as he is always in his server room. Lady Ragyo does that to protect you. And I agree with her - every human I met is a selfish and evil person."
"Humans are stupid."
"That they are..." Hoomaru answers. Nui then stands up.
"Well, Hoomaru, I got to go!"
"What are you up to?"
"Making new friends! The best friend one can have is yourself after all! And you know, I don't have much of a choice anyway!" Nui chuckles, although this specific topic is rather depressing to think about, having only yourself as a friend - or in other words, being lonely to a point where you make up your friends.
"Alright then. Don't forget that I'm going to ask you about the vocabulary you need to learn."
"Oui, mademoiselle Hoomaru!" Nui answers on french.
Arriving in her room, Nui sits down next to her personal sewing machine, taking a look at it. There's a pink dress she started. Therefore, Nui decides to continue working on it for another hour. The process is rather calm and relaxed, and as she is done with the dress, the Grand Couturier hangs it on the wall. Suddenly, something rolls down from the table next to her. It looks like a puppet fell down from it, but how? She grabs the puppet and investigates it.
"Why did you move...?" she wonders quiet, looking into the puppets eyes. Since she can't expect an answer, Nui simply puts the puppet back onto the table and lays down onto her bed, looking up at the ceiling of the room, thinking what to do next, since Lady Ragyo has no orders for her. But apparently, the puppet rolls down again. With a perplexed face expression, Nui stands up again and takes a closer look at the puppet. Nui moves her hand on the puppet's body to see if there is a loose stitch or anything while sitting down on her bed again. Just as she takes a closer look at it's eyes, the puppet looks back into Nui's eyes, and it even smiles. The fifteen year old girl smiles back. She carefully lays down the puppet on the other end of the bed and watches it jump to her. The view makes Nui chuckle. It gives her an idea too, as now, Nui draws a few small strings of Life Fibers out of her fingers, giving them to her little "me." The puppet starts playing with the string, making little funny movements with it, and then, it fuses with it. Just as Nui tries to pull up the puppet again, the puppet grows tall in a mere second.
"Oh wow..." Nui reacts surprised. She wasn't scares or shocked, but it was unexpected, to say the least.
"Hello, Miss Harime!" he second "me" smiles.
"He-llo..."
"I'm so happy that I get to know you personally now!" the puppet laughs happily.
"Uh, yeah, me too."
"You must feel lonely, otherwise you wouldn't have sewn me! Don't worry, humans are all stupid, but I am MUCH better! And as you know, the best friend you can have is yourself and family! Ah, wait, we don't have family, ahaha! Welp, THAT makes it easier for us!" the puppet continues. Nui nods very slowly.
"Yes... the best friend you can have... is yourself..." Nui quietly chanters to herself and looks up to the puppet again.
"We should make many more little Miss Harime's! You cannot imagine what great fun we are going to have! Imagine five of us! No, ten! Twenty! And they all are just like me! Or you! Haha, I love the thought! Haha!" and then, the puppet laughs happily. It's laugh is really genuine, delivering a warm and good feeling to everyone who listens to it.
It echoes through Nui's ears...
...
Late evening. The halls of the Nudist Beach HQ are pretty empty already. Nui takes a look into the mirror of her room, holding her eye patch in her right hand. Two puppets stand behind Nui and look at her with curious intention.
"Miss Harime, you are standing in front of this mirror for more than thirty minutes, so we decided to join you! Now you can admire yourself even more! What are you thinking about right now?!" one of the puppets ask.
"I'm thinking about Mama, lil Hoomaru, and REVOCS." Nui answers calm.
"Ooooooooh. That sounds boring, Miss Harime!" the second puppet smiles. Nui puts her eye patch back onto a shelf and collects her two puppets, putting them back into the shelf as well. Interestingly, the puppets seem to make some kind of pyramid form, a bit like a card house. The upper three puppets on the peak even have different kinds of bowties on their heads - one in red, one in blue, and one in yellow. The others all have pink bowties. Nui smiles at her little creations and leaves her room to get some more popcorn before going to sleep. It's 11:10 PM already. Here and there, a Nudist Beach guard walks around, but other than that, it's pretty dead here. As Nui enters the canteen, she notices Ryuko with Senketsu, standing at the popcorn machine themselves. Ryuko notices Nui. Her small smile turns into an annoyed look.
"Nui." Ryuko reacts badly mooded and turns back to the machine.
"Oooooohh, Popcornfan, hm?" Nui grins happy. Ryuko doesn't react. Nui patiently waits and looks over Ryuko's shoulder. Her "friend" seems to fill up a small bag.
"What, that's nothing, Ryuko!" Nui reacts shocked.
"Yeah, cause the popcorn is mainly for you so that you leave us alone." Ryuko answers and grabs the last bits.
"Awwww, Ryuko, that is so kind of you and the other poopheads, BUT remember, we are..."
"Yeah?"
"... friends." Nui finishes. She wanted to say something else. But she doesn't dare to.
"Right. How about you just accept the fact you got all the popcorn for yourself and leave me alone? I feel bad for Hoomaru since she is the only one you talk to, must be really depressing." Ryuko continues.
"Now, Ryuko, I might be mean, but that was a bit far now, don't you th... Ryuko?" Nui asks, as Ryuko suddenly stands still, as if she feels dizzy or anything.
"Hey, Life Fibers to Ryuko!" Nui says confused. Ryuko puts the bag on the machine and walks to a wall. Senketsu is worrieed.
"Uh, haha, that's not funny, Ryuko." Nui grins confused and looks into her eyes, and with that, her grin vanishes faster than an eye blink.
"Hey..." Nui mumbles worried, walking to the nearby sink to fill up a small cup of water for Ryuko. Ryuko starts coughin.
"What is going on? Your blood feels strange, it's as if... it would vanish." Senketsu reacts scared. He doesn't know either what to do. Nui quickly walks back to Ryuko and gives her the water while holding her. She even coughs blood on the ground, which causes Nui to jump back.
"Ew..." Nui reacts shocked. Ryuko tries to drink the water, and as she does it, she spits it out into the sink again, but it seems to help. Nui fills up a new cup of water and gives it to Ryuko as she tries to sit down again. Ryuko sighs after drinking the cup.
"I have no idea what this is all about..." Ryuko admits worried.
"You better take off this stupid Kamui already, you fool! It's gonna kill you!" Nui answers annoyed.
"Shut it."
"I'm trying to help you, dear! It will kill you if..."
"You're going to kill me too if you stand around any longer. Grab the stupid popcorn bag and go away already." Ryuko reacts ungrateful towards Nui. The blond woman hesitates at first but then takes the popcorn bag. She looks back to Ryuko.
"Dude, go away!" Ryuko yells. Nui shakes her head annoyed and leaves the room.
"Senketsu... what is happening to me...?" she asks scared.
"I... don't know. Iori needs to investigate me again. If all of this started due to me, something is not right."
"... alright..." Ryuko sighs and stands up, wishing the blood away and then leaving the room...
The next day...
Keyboard sounds are audible. Nonon snores next to Houka. It's pretty soon - about 6 AM. Houka is focused on working on the security measures of the main manufacture in Nagoya. Satsuki visits the room.
"Satsuki?" Houka reacts interested. Satsuki should be sleeping.
"Houka." Satsuki answers, seemingly calm. But obviously, something bothers her, although Houka can't say what exactly.
"Up so soon?"
"I've slept worse than usual. Tell me, how does it look like with Nagoya?" Satsuki asks.
"Pretty well. I should be done with the system in a few minutes."
"Good. I want to destroy this facility today."
"You seem worried."
"I... am. This man... he is playing with my nerves."
"The director of Neo-REVOCS? Mhm... he does seem to be competent enough to annoy everyone, and he does it in a far more subtile but intelligent manner than his so called predecessor. I'm working on it as quick as I can."
"Thank you."
"Of course, Satsuki." Houka answers and continues working on his laptop.
Following up, Satsuki leaves the room again and walks back to the dormitories. There, she opens the door to Ryuko's room. Ryuko and Senketsu sleep. Satsuki watches Senketsu in distrust.
"...hrmpf..." Satsuki grumbles as she looks at Senketsu and then carefully closes the door again. Ichiro's revelation doesn't allow a single minute of peace for Satsuki. Hoomaru passes by Satsuki.
"Lady Satsuki?" Hoomaru asks curious.
"Oh, Hoomaru."
"You seem to be worried, what has happened?" Hoomaru asks. Satsuki takes a few seconds, but even then, she doesn't give an answer.
"You should sit down." Hoomaru suggests and sits down with Satsuki on a few chairs in the hall. Satsuki plays with her hands, thinks, appears worried...
"... I think Ryuko might die." Satsuki says quiet. Hoomaru nods slowly.
"... and the only way of saving her is to find a cure for this Life Fiber Sickness."
"I see."
"... there is one, as a matter of fact. But... it belongs this, this soulless being that is the director of Neo-REVOCS, and... I do not know how to achieve it. I hope we can find something interesting when we attack the main manufacture. Houka will search for data, while the others occupy and destroy the manufacture."
"I assume you hear it often enough, but rest assured, your sister is an remarkably strong personality - stubborn, no doubt about it, if not as stubborn as, let's say three or four years ago - but giving up is something she would never consider. If she'd knew she had to die, she would do everything to avoid it, as long as her enemy doesn't gain anything out of it. If that makes sense."
"I know..."
"Nui and I spoke about Ryuko. Even she is worried about Ryuko, she would of course never say that but she does care. As much as a psychopathic personality can care for someone else, that is. You and Nui should work together." Hoomaru suggests.
"Any other options?" Satsuki tries to avoid, as working with Nui is not exactly her number one idea she would accept.
"Alternativley, it might be worth taking a look at not stealing the cure itself, but instead the "recipe," the... blueprint, so to speak. If we cannot steal it, we could try to reproduce it. Mr. Inumuta and Mr. Iori might be able to work on it... even if it might be just a temporary solution."
"That is correct."
"There are enough ways to fulfill our goals, Miss Kiryuin. We can find one for Ryuko as well. Now, what is your plan?"
"I want to take on Nagoya... and hopefully find out something useful. Anything about the Sickness, or at least an idea about the director's plans. They must have something in common with the Sickness itself. I can't imagine healing a person from it without using Life Fibers, and I want to find out how Harime is able to produce Life Fibers without something like an second primordial Life Fiber."
"I see. Everything will work out." Hoomaru continues. Satsuki and Hoomaru sit around a little more in the hall, until her boss yawns.
"You really should lay down and rest some more."
"Yes... you might be right." Satsuki answers and stands up.
"Thank you for hearing me out, Rei."
"Of course. Now get some sleep." Hoomaru finishes. Satsuki enters her room again and closes the door...
...
Red-orange Life Fibers on the walls sing once again. They crawl on the many walls of the throne room where the High Entity resides. Soft and silent steps are audible from the halls, left and right, where Life Fiber Beings can enter and leave the throne room whenever they wish to. Ichiro enters the room out of one of the halls and walks to the High Entity which looks down to him. Below them, more Life Fibers sing. The High Entity, better, it's copies stand up and walk down to Ichiro.
"High Entity." Ichiro says. The copies walk pass him and move to the edge behind them. Ichiro turns around and follows them. The throne room is incredibly huge. The director of Neo-REVOCS notices how the Entity copies look down from the edge. Millions of Life Fibers, living under the throne room, thirsty for hosts, and blood.
"Look at all of them..." one of the Entity says in an heavenly voice as Ichiro approaches them.
"Millions of us... seeking for a new home..."
"The academy is populated with ours."
"And it's good this way..." the Entity on his left mentions. He takes a look at it.
"You seem weak." he notes worried. The white light the copies and the Entity itself offers has weakened.
"Our... time is running away."
"Your fate shall be mine. Do not worry, for it will be over soon."
"We trust you on that..." the High Entity itself answers. Ichiro turns around.
"The humans plan on taking out the so called main manufacture. Hundreds and thousands of us are born there. I'll let them come. They will only find empty halls." Ichiro continues. The Entity copies fuse together on the throne.
"Your enemy can never be allowed of knowing your plans..."
"Of course, High Entity..."
...
Command center, 10 AM. The entire group around Satsuki and Ryuko met up in the central of the Nudist Beach HQ. Elite Four, Iori, Mikisugi, Tsumugu, Hoomaru and of course both sisters and Nui. Blueprints of the main manufacture of Nagoya are visible, and a 3D-Map of the building itself. Large halls are visible, storage rooms, the central room in the highest floor, connected next to a heli pad, Monorail connections, all these things could await the group. Behind the group, Nudist Beach members work on the preparations for the operation. Inumuta explains the situation.
"I've been looking forward to this. Following situation: The main manufacture is about 100 meter high and consists of about 20 floors with several basements and an underground parking lot. The security measures are under my control entirely and can be deactivated at any point during the operation, however, I expect Neo-REVOCS to notice my attempts. Our main goal is to take down the facility and find out any useful information about the way they produce Life Fibers, if they produce them at all, and if they do not, we need to see if we can find other intel that benefits our operations. Mikisugi and Tsumugu carry explosive charges. I assume heavy resistance - Ashiaru, Samurai, and apparently one of the mysterious Couturiers will be waiting for us..." Inumuta starts to expalin, while Satsuki makes a small hand sign, telling Ryuko to leave the room with her.
"What's up, Satsuki?" Ryuko asks.
"I wanted to make sure you are doing alright."
"Well, kind of, yeah, although I did felt pretty bad the last days, I even coughed blood... but Iori and I will speak about this and Senketsu, I'm sure we'll find a solution." Ryuko smiles confident. Satsuki nods and looks down to Senketsu who looks back to her.
"And you... Senketsu?"
"I'm alright. Well, I usually hang around." Senketsu reacts. Satsuki nods.
"This is going to be a large operation. You feel ready for it?" the big sister asks. Ryuko raises her eyebrows.
"Satsuki, I'll kick their asses just as much as the others in the group. I wonder if you are feeling ready though. Did something happened against this Doppelgänger clown?"
"... he pretty much only wasted my time. I should have known better." Satsuki lies. Ryuko rolls her eyes.
"Such a jerk."
"You don't say."
"Ready? Then go." Mikisugi says in the other room. The group leaves the command center and pass by Ryuko and Satsuki.
"Here we go." Ryuko mumbles.
The entire unit walks to the Arsenal of the Nudist Beach HQ to prepare their equipment. Ryuko got her scissor blades already, Satsuki sharpens her Katana and watches it shine up in blue briefly - probably thanks to the Life Fibers Junketsu left behind - and Nui fills her vest bags with ammo. Mikisugi and Tsumugu add explosive charges onto their belts. Since they cannot use the DTR for this operation, they rely on the sewing machine pistols Tsumugu used years ago already. These use desynchronizer ammo. Eventually, Iori takes a closer look at the uniforms of the Elite four. Sanageyama grabs a Katana for the battle, and Houka interestingly takes some kind of blue, small rifle, with many key pads, a display with an empty loading screen on the side and even an ammo counter. It seems to be part of the Impulse Regalia, ready to be materialized if the hacker wishes to. And finally, Hoomaru motivates Nui for the battle, but as expected, Nui just makes fun of everything and her former observant. The unit leaves the base, displaying three splinter groups as they walk to the helicopter near the Zeppelin: Ryuko, Satsuki and Nui on the front, then the Elite four with their uniforms and behind them, Mikisugi and Tsumugu as the last group. The groups enter the helicopter, and the doors close.
During the flight, Satsuki looks at Senketsu most of the time who is chatting with Ryuko. It's as if both live in an own world. Nui meanwhile is bored and plays with a few Life Fibers.
"Hey, I'd feel a tickle too if you hold a feather on my arm sleeves." he chuckles.
"For real?" Ryuko grins.
"Man, Matoi, all the time you spent with your Kamui, you got a crush on him?" Sanageyama asks curious and grins slightly. Ryuko laughs and then shakes her head.
"I mean I do love him but you know, it's like "Best friends" love."
"Ohhhhh, damn bro, sorry to hear that, Senketsu." the Samurai reacts. Senketsu chuckles.
"I'm not worrying about that, Sanageyama. I prefer it more this way."
"Ah well then." he answers and looks to Houka who investigates his weapon.
"Interesting..." Houka quietly says to himself. There isn't even an ammo clip or anything, but somehow, the weapon is connected with the body of the person, or better, their uniform. Iori and Houka must have worked a lot together to sew this uniform, and maybe Nui had a fair share to it as well. Sanageyama then looks to Gamagoori who tests out the stability of his uniform by taking a Katana and cutting himself. Or at least, he tries to. And with that, Gamagoori nods satisfied. Nonon in the meantime counts her musician clones, and then, the Samurai takes a look at his own uniform. Typically green for Sanageyama, with small armored plates here and there, but this is his civil uniform still. It does look impressive already however. Iori surely had an idea for the four deva.
"Helicopter... honestly I sometimes ask myself when I don't have to see them from the inside again." Mikisugi mumbles. Nui listens.
"Ohhhhh, they aren't THAT bad. Our old REVOCS helicopters were great! You ever got captured by one of us?"
"No."
"Well you missed some great fun out then! The pilots of my helicopter were clones themselves and I even had a sweet workbench there!" Nui smiles. Mikisugi raises his eye brows.
"You can sew there? I couldn't concentrate if it's so loud." he asks.
"Hah, only if you are an expert but you know..."
"I know, I'm dumb and you are ten times better than me."
"Ten times might be a bit much, after all, you guys won our little game, not me." Nui answers smiling.
"You let REVOCS defeat sound like a little game of friendship."
"Ain't everything a game? When we play, we gotta play high, otherwise, there wouldn't be any fun! But hey, I'm not angry at you guys, I really am not. Well, I'm a bit annoyed but angry? Me?!"
"You're not angry at us?" he asks surprised.
"Nopey nopey nopey! My name's not Ryuko after all, haha!" Nui laughs. Even Tsumugu listens interested as he hears that. You'd expect from someone like Nui to be something like a bad loser, especially when she is around the people that defeated her.
"You know, guys, you guys aren't that bad. Don't get me wrong, you all are stupid EXCEPT for Ryuko and Satsuki, they are genuinely cool but you guys? Really, everyone of you needs some appealing clothes, so you can be glad you guys have me around. And I like that you are all more talkative then my Life Fiber douchebags."
"Are they all as kind as you are?" Sanageyama asks.
"They are! But you won't understand them because they just sing. I can understand them, but human language is more interesting and fun to talk."
"You communicate via singing?" Houka asks interested.
"Pretty much. A few can talk in human languages too, like me or my Doppelgänger, other than that... yup, everyone's stupid."
"Interesting... communicating via singing is unusual but not uncommon." Houka answers interested, and just as he is about to ask more, a loudspeaker rings up.
"Destination arrival in five minutes..."
...
A short time later...
...
A sewer hatch opens. Mikisugi and Tsumugu climb out of it and take off their jackets.
"Man... who would have thought an industrial city could produce such amounts of junk?" Mikisugi asks his friend. Both men arrived in a little locker room which is connected to the sewers to make sure nothing highly poisonous or important swim through it. Other than that, the room itself is rather empty. Brown metal walls are everywhere. The men open the door and take a look around. Above them, they can hear machines working.
"Alright. We'll place the charges in the machine rooms and meet up with Satsuki's friends." Mikisugi suggests. Tsumugu unlocks his weapon, just like Mikisugi. After that, both men walk through the halls and take a look around. It's worryingly quiet here. All you can hear are the machines and a few steps here and there, but for such a huge factory, you'd expect more than... this. As they walk around the corner, they find some kind of security gate which has frames on the walls around it, with small holes on them - probably lasers that will trigger the alarm if someone walks through them without the correct clearance level. However, both men have to get pass the gate.
"I suppose we have to wait." Tsumugu suggests. Mikisugi nods and scans the area.
"I kind of missed this, Tsumugu. Remember when we didn't had all the good tech like the DTR?"
"Yeah. Infiltrating small REVOCS factories to make their days worse."
"It was an enjoyable time. This kind of feels like the old times again." Mikisugi smiles slightly in nostalgia.
"That precision shot I landed, with you as my spotter... I won't forget that. Stood on top of a REVOCS skyscraper and you perfectly told me when to shoot the oil tank. One milisecond later and the bullet would have hit the gate and not the tank."
"The factory was burning like hell." Mikisugi adds. Tsumugu nods satisfied...
...
"So like... was this really the best idea you could come up with, Inu?" Nonon asks annoyed as she tries to take a look around. She and her three companions all are in a pretty tight transporter of Neo-REVOCS. Nudist Beach stole it a while ago. Houka is looking at a display on his arm which shows a camera on the drivers seat. Houka hacked into the system of an Ashigaru soldier. Both Houka and Nonon have their regalia activated - Impulse Regalia and Valkyrie Regalia.
"Dude, can you move a bit?" Sanageyama asks Nonon.
"Said the guy with the fat sword and armor." Nonon reacts.
"Quiet, both of you." Gamagoori orders. Gamagoori has the, well, largest problem out of all the four... after all, he barely fits into it. The transporter stops a few minutes later, and with that, Houka orders the Ashigaru to open up the transporter door. No one is in the underground parking lot. The group leaves the transporter. Sanageyama and Nonon breathe for some air, while Houka ignores them and Gamagoori shakes his head. Houka smiles mischievous.
"Hm, works well." he grins as he moves the Ashigaru around while holding certain buttons on the keyboard. He controls the Ashigaru by using one of his arms. It's certainly interesting to watch. Houka deactivates the Ashigaru. The group walks through the parking lot. As they open up a door, they find two Ashigaru's that didn't noticed their presence. Gamagoori quickly grabs them with his two large hands and crushes them. The four deva continue their infiltration. Interestingly, the general appearance of the walls and rooms are completely different than what Mikisugi and Tsumugu saw, as here the halls are clean, if cold. Gamagoori looks around and thinks.
"These Fiber Factories are in the tenth floor. We'll investigate them, collect anything that looks useful and leave the facility. Uzu, Nonon, we are going to protect Houka as long as we need to!" Gamagoori orders. Nonon holds her bag with the musician clones ready and Sanageyama keeps the sword grip tight. Houka walks interested through the manufacture, holding one of his arms up. As they reach the door to the entrance hall, Houka carefully opens it and takes a look. Only a few employees and Ashigaru are there. This makes Houka suspicious about the entire situation.
"Hm... there aren't many people in the entrance hall. I would expect from such a huge facility to have more people around there." he comments quietly and grabs the rifle that is on his back. It boots up, visible by a few lights on it, and as it is booted up, he holds it tight and ready. Then he opens the door carefully again and aims on the ceiling of the room. All that peeks out of the door is the muzzle, and as he shoots once - with the weapon being silenced - a small little electronic device lands on the corner of the ceiling. With that done, Houka puts the weapon away and raises his arm up to his chest, revealing a few symbols on it. There is a power symbol on it, or a robot being electrocuted, to name two of them. Houka presses the power symbol, and suddenly, a sound rings up briefly. A sound you'd usually hear if the power runs out. The hacker opens the door again. All Ashigaru's in the room have been deactivated.
"Impulse Regalia, Ladies and Gentlemen." Houka explains with a mischievous tone. As the group enters the room, it seems like the employees don't seem to care too much about what the four are doing.
"Oh look, Couturiers." one of the employees even notice. Sanageyama reacts impressed. His green uniform and Gamagooris brown, with flexible plate armor covered uniform seem to gain the most attention. Eventually, Houka deactivates with the keyboards on his body the cameras in the facility while they enter an elevator that leads up to the Fiber factories.
"Well, they are blind now, but not for long. The security administrator will notice my hacking attemps soon." the hacker comments.
"Then we should move." Gamagoori answers.
In the upper halls, Ashigaru walk their patrol routes. Two of them visit a balcony which serves as resting area for employees. From here, there is a good view onto Nagoya. The Ashigaru are in the seventeeth floor. There is also a huge and impressive Neo-REVOCS corporate HQ which appears to be the largest building in the entire city. As the Ashigaru take a look around, hands suddenly pack them, and they are thrown off the balcony. Ryuko climbs up thanks to Senketsu Azami which allows her to walk on walls . Then, Satsuki in her Wrath Regalia climbs up and eventually, Satsuki helps Nui getting onto the balcony as well. The three women take out their weapons.
"I still believe this wall climbing felt like doing a fun spying mission." Nui mentions smiling.
"That way you don't raise the alarm." Satsuki answers.
"Surely not attention gaining if you walk on the walls of a huge factory." Nui chuckles sarcastic.
"Come on, let's go." says Ryuko and opens the door. Rest rooms are in this floor, and they seem to be large. Nui steps forward.
"Follow me, I know this building. Overseer office, here I come!" Nui laughs happy, holding her weapon with a sadistic intention. Ryuko and Satsuki follow her. The cameras are deactivated as the three can notice - they don't move anymore and the red lights are off as well. A Samurai appears around the corner, however, Ryuko is able to knock him out with the scissor blades before he is able to raise any alarm or suspicion. Nui pats his head twice and the group continues. There is an elevator guarded by a group of Ashigaru. Security gates seem to be there as well, but fortunately, they are deactivated as well thanks to Houka. Without controlling the security measures, the entire operation would have became far harder to perform, so it was a good idea to send Nui to Neo-REVOCS. Not raising the alarm as long as possible is essential.
"So now what?" Ryuko asks. Satsuki carefully walks forward. Four guards are in the elevator room. She quickly walks back to her companions.
"Four of them." Satsuki mentions. Nui suddenly walks forward and throws out a few clones to the guards. Using quick slash attacks with their needle blades, the clones easily take down the Ashigaru. After that, the clones shrink again. Nui quickly collects them and turns to her friends with closed eyes and a big smile that gets even bigger.
"Mhmmhmh..." Nui chuckles. Ryuko and Satsuki walk into the elevator, Nui follows them. Slowly, the elevator makes it's way up to the 20th floor of the building. If there wouldn't be so many watchtowers on the roof, they would have just climbed their way up to it entirely.
"That was easy." Ryuko mentions and leans back.
"We should still stay careful." Senketsu continues.
"And you can 100% assure me that we could find out where Neo-REVOCS gets it's materials in the overseer office?" Satsuki asks Nui.
"Oui, mon cher. And if not, your weird friends will find something probably." Nui answers. The elevator door opens and the three women arrive in an rather empty, red colored hall which appears completely contrary to the rest of the facility. The facility is built and constructed rather irritating as well, but you'd probably get used to it if you work here. Nui looks around confused.
"They colored everything new!" Nui notices surprised.
"I've been here once, but this is definitely not how I remember the building. Office's have been here once." Satsuki mentions. Ryuko however doesn't care and moves forward.
Mikisugi and Tsumugu in the meantime advanced through the facility, while Houka continues to take out the security. As they meet a Samurai, Tsumugu grabs him while he doesn't look, removes his armor and eventually knocks him out with Mikisugi's help. Meanwhile, the men have arrived in the floor with the machine rooms.
"There's one thing I strongly dislike about this entire location." Mikisugi mentions suspicious as he peeks around a corner.
"The bad air?"
"That too."
"The ugly rooms?"
"That not."
"But?"
"No one is here. Tsumugu, I fear they knew we were coming."
"We shouldn't have included Matoi in the first place."
"Then she would start rebelling and cause trouble, and you know how this young woman can be if she is angry."
"Mhm... I won't sacrifice an operation due to the moods of a young woman. We need to talk about this with Satsuki."
"Indeed..."
Masaru in the meantime sits in the office of Neo-REVOCS and slowly starts to get messages from various security administrators about cameras suffering from malfunctions.
"Interesting. Director Harime was right." Masaru reacts interested and seems to order units to the manufacture. He is aware that he does not have access to the cameras anymore, but apparently, he seems to be very calm about that. At the same moment, Houka and the others walk through the facility and reach the Fiber factories in which they assume heavy resistance.
"Such deserted rooms." Gamagoori mumbles.
"As if no one would have been here for weeks." Sanageyama adds. The group arrives at the hall gates. Nonon carefully opens the door and peeks - there is a large, rather empty hall, with a podest in the center of it, and capsules on the left and right side as well as a few workbenches with sewing machines... but there is not a single employee or a guard.
"Huh?" Nonon reacts and opens the door. No one is there. Lights hang on the ceiling. The four deva move into the room and take a look around, with Houka going to the capsules and scanning them with his uniform.
"Investigate the area." orders Gamagoori ambitious and takes a look at the capsules. Houka analyes the capsules with a mask he just put on.
"Interesting... there is a difference in the heat that comes out from the capsules. Hours before, something seemed to be inside them. Life Fibers?" he wonders and starts working...
Ryuko, Satsuki and Nui meanwhile approach a huge red door.
"Keep your weapons ready." Satsuki orders quietly and carefully opens the door. This is the overseer's office, and it's highly modernized. Monitors everywhere, a large window wall with a desk and chair in front of it from where you get a great look at the city of Nagoya itself. Constructions seem to be going on next to the manufacture, as there is a crane near the roof.
"Dude is this some kind of joke or why is this store so badly guarded?" Ryuko asks loud. The chair turns around, Ichiro is revealed. He smiles at the three and holds his hands.
"Welcome to the main manufacture, my dears." he greets happily and stands up.
"Who else than him..." Senketsu mumbles. Ryuko keeps her scissor blades ready, Nui aims at Ichiro, and Satsuki holds the Katana grip tight.
"So passive-agressive... what leads you into this facility? Is it Life Fibers?" he asks Nui.
"Is it hate?" he then asks Ryuko.
"Is it fear?" Ichiro finally asks Satsuki and looks into her eyes with a burning look.
"We're going to take down this weird facility and while we are at it, we'll kick your ass real good too." Ryuko grins and aims the scissor blades at him.
"Ah... the scissor blades. Useful tools, no doubt about that, your father did good when he developed them. Not that I would admire him, after all, he was a mere human, yet what is it you always say? Honor to whom honor is due?"
"So you've been waiting for us, right?" Senketsu asks Ichiro.
"Senketsu, we've never truly met each other, I am disappointed. The High Entity spoke a lot about you. My dear Nui is already very "beloved," but you, my friend, you probably are even worse than her and yet, she got sent into the absolute emptiness and not you. Kinda funny if you think about it. That makes you a monster."
"Senketsu ain't a monster, you..."
"Calm down, Ryuko. The pleasure is all mine then." Senketsu answers ironic. Ichiro chuckles briefly and looks at all the three.
"Hm, I bet it is. Now, you surely are not here because you want to talk with me and stand around, and I understand that..." Ichiro continues and presses a button that raises the alarm in the building.
"... which is why we can just keep it simple, if you don't mind." the Director then chuckles and destroys the furniture with Life Fibers in front of him, walking towards his three opponents.
"I'm not a huge fan of combat, I do prefer mind games unlike my predecessor, but of course I am not unarmed. Let me introduce you my trusty weapon of choice..." he grins and materializes Life Fibers as he walks towards the women. The Life Fibers form into a weapon - a large scythe with two grips. It is completely black, yet Life Fibers move inside it. It shines however. He clicks two times with the scythe onto the ground. It appears powerful, the women can sense that by the sheer aura the weapon spreads.
HOLY TOOL OF THE ENFORCER - HARVESTER SCYTHE
"Humans are not worthless, they never have been in the first place. Humans are a ressource worth to be collected, and the Life Fibers will feast on them. Let's see if you can survive this." he grins and attacks Nui with lightning speed. Nui jumps back, Satsuki draws her Katana and counters the attack, then, Ichiro turns into Life Fibers and crawls under Satsuki, materializes back and hits her back with more Life Fibers. Ryuko attacks Ichiro with the scissor blades, yet he is able to block the attack with the scythe almost effortlessly...
Since the alarm in the manufacture has been raised, the four deva, Mikisugi and Tsumugu stay careful. Nonon shakes her head as the red lights go on.
"Great work, Inu." Nonon grins mischievous.
"The alarm has been activated manually. They found one of us." Houka notices.
"Oh, great, we're getting company." Nonon then comments as the doors open and a person in a red, impressive robe appears. The face cannot be seen. The four deva watch it come closer to them. Sanageyama keeps his Katana ready and activates his uniform.
LIGHTNING REGALIA
The combat variant of the Lightning Regalia appears as a impressive yet flexible Samurai armor with green colors, very fine armor plates that provide flexibility and speed, and the arms even shine, as green lights flicker through it. Eventually, Gamagoori does the same and activates his uniform.
PROTECTOR REGALIA
In his Protector Regalia, the giant man appears like a bastion. That is all you can really say. It is not properly describable how strong and fearful this uniform appears. Orange colors, large armored gloves, a skin tight armor that absorbs damage and lets the user feel the pain, but equally enhances his capabilities - it's practical use reminds a lot of the Shackle Regalia years ago. Next to him and Sanageyama, Nonon activates her Valkyria Regalia and Houka his Impulse Regalia.
"Usurpers who aim on interfering in our holy mission will experience suffering! Suffering, brought by the Life Fibers should you humans not yield!" the Couturier yells in front of the four deva. Dozens of Samurai and Ashigaru appear now as well. They must have waited until the alarm would raise. More and more henchmen of Neo-REVOCS appear until they made a half circle around the four heroes.
"More than hundred Ashigaru and Samurai." Houka analyzes with his mask.
"Sounds good." Sanageyama says satisfied as he looks at the Samurai.
"Keep the fun out of this, Sanageyama, these men are stronger and more disciplined than REVOCS' COVERs." Gamagoori reacts. The eyes of the Couturier shine in red suddenly, and Life Fibers leave it's robe. Nonon raises her eye brows and throws the musician clones who start to play music. Followed up by that, Neo-REVOCS charges an attack. Mikisugi and Tsumugu can hear the shots and battle sounds and decide to make their way up to the Fiber factories, as the machine rooms are on the way to it. With a helicopter, the group should be able to escape later on..
Satsuki and Ryuko meanwhile fight against Ichiro who seems to block and counter every last attack of the women effortlessly, while Nui tries to walk around to hit him with a bullet. As she shoots a bullet, he turns into Life Fibers again just to materialize one second later again, causing the shot to miss. Nui's devils masks in her eyes turn angry.
"You are so annoying!" Nui yells. Ichiro suddenly grabs Ryuko with Life Fibers and throws her against the monitors to get rid of her for a brief moment. The Director then approaches Satsuki. His weapon is almost as large as he is, and he does have a formidable tallness with 6,1 feet.
"You seem nervous, Kiryuin, as if a live would depend on this fight." he grins as he looks into Satsuki's eyes. Satsuki parries the scythe attack he commenced and then hits Ichiro's cheek, with blood leaving it, and Life Fibers becoming visible.
"How is it possible a pure Life Fiber has human properties?!" Satsuki asks as she blocks the next attack.
"The High Entity and we learned, Kiryuin, we do not need such pesky things as a "womb" to create new individuals!" Ichiro reacts and commences an overhead attack which Satsuki dodges, and then, Ryuko appears and slams Ichiro out of the building with the scissor blades. He lands however safely on the roof of the main manufacture, near the helipad. Nui fires at Ichiro who dodges the attacks perpetually, and the last shot in Nui's magazine is even reflected by a Life Fiber wall he summoned. The bullet almost hits Nui. Ryuko and Satsuki jump out and confront the Director once again with Nui staying a few meters back to give range support.
Ventilation systems, transmission masts, chests, a helipad, and several more goods are on the rooftop. The sky is clear. Ichiro keeps his scythe behind his back, ready for an attack however, and smiles at both sisters. Nui climbs onto a watchtower where she has a good vision on her Doppelgänger.
"Finally this world is getting exciting! You have no idea how boring it can be to just sit in an office and watch a group of inferior idiots travel through a world not worth living in!" the Doppelgänger states.
"Oh shut up already!" Ryuko yells and attacks together with Satsuki, however, Ichiro blocks once more with his scythe easily and then attacks Ryuko, all while grabbing Satsuki with Life Fibers he summoned, incapacitating her briefly. Nui fires at Ichiro who dodges again. Ichiro's sheer strength with the weapon is well transmitted, as Ryuko struggles to block every single attack he performs. Ryuko loses her balance and walks a few steps back. The director uses the opportunity to hit Ryuko by ramming his scythe into her shoulder. Ryuko screams in agony. Ichiro then pulls the weapon out again, blood leaves her shoulder. Even Senketsu felt the pain.
"AH SHIT!" Ryuko screams.
"This weapon... I can't feel the fibers anymore! Ryuko! I believe his weapon can kill Life Fibers!" Senketsu comments.
"What!? Are you kidding me!?"
"Your Kamui is intelligent, indeed, Matoi!" Ichiro smiles and touches his finger on the sharp tip of the scythe. Blood leaves the finger which he then shows Ryuko.
"Oh no... one bad mistake and you could die a horrible death." he mentions evil with large eyes and a bright smile.
"You..." Ryuko tries to answer as Nui suddenly appears from behind, jumping onto Ichiro and ramming her weapon into his heart which however doesn't deal much damage, as Nui's rifle blade cannot severe Life Fibers. Nui then decides to take a few steps back and to shoot Ichiro's legs. To her negative surprise, Ichiro doesn't care about that and grabs Nui, slams her against a wall, then throws Life Fibers to tie her up and eventually commences an overhead attack to execute Nui.
"Time to die, sweetheart!" he laughs and attacks. Nui's face expression instantly turns into absolute fear and panic as the weapon comes closer.
"RYUKO HELP ME PLEASE!" she screams scared. Ryuko saves her fathers murdered by slamming the scissor blades under the scythe. Both weapons are almost in Nui's eyes, and the end of the scythe is almost in one of Nui's eyes. She is paralyzed by this view.
"The only person that is allowed to kick Nui's ass is me, you bastard, so leave her alone." Ryuko threatens calm and kicks Ichiro away. Satsuki frees herself and rams her Katana into Ichiro's back, however, he grabs the Katana from his torso and throws it away. As Satsuki watches her Katana flying away, she see's an incoming needle copter approaching their position, probably sent by Masaru himself or lured by the alarm. Nui see's it too.
"... oh no..." she mumbles, still scared and paralyzed. Satsuki grabs Nui.
"Get yourself together, Harime, I need you!" Satsuki orders Nui who then nods hesitant while Ryuko and Ichiro talk to each other in the background.
"So what is your plan, huh? Wanna cover this world into some kind of dress like your weird clone?"
"Aha, no. Who am I, an idiot?" he asks sarcastic and attacks Ryuko again.
"I've won the moment you met Senketsu, you silly little girl!"
"More like, you don't want to admit you're busted, right!?" Ryuko grins. Ichiro shakes his head and chuckles.
"How stubborn you still are." he mumbles and slams Ryuko with the dull side of the scythe away, causing her to clash into the cran a few meters away from them. As Ryuko stands up, she stands on the crane, with Ichiro approaching her on it. Satsuki and Nui try to follow them, however, the needle copter interrupts the attempt and opens fire. One wrong step on the crane would mean a long fall, and so, Ryuko has to be very careful...
Mikisugi and Tsumugu fight their way through the facility after planting the explosives in the machine rooms. The explosion power should be strong enough to render the entire building useless. As they reach the hall in which the four deva fight in, they see how Sanageyama takes on one Samurai after another easily, Nonon playing music with her Nui musician clones, Gamagoori absorbing the damage and Houka trying to analyze and gain information as much as he can, and you can really see it as he is stressed. The Couturier on the opposing side however keeps on fighting and endures, even if Gamagoori hits him wth his large fists and the whip he still uses. Mikisugi and Tsumugu join the battle.
"So you're making party without us?" Mikisugi asks Houka.
"A great source of data. While the others fight off the units, I can easily find out more about the production here... and it looks like they seem to produce Life Fibers here, but how?" he asks himself and continues analyzing fascinated. A Samurai charges at him, yet Mikisugi and Tsumugu fire a load of desynchronizer rounds into him, causing him to become naked. Sanageyama notices Life Fibers that crawl through the ground, until they grab Nonon and Tsumugu. Both of them are slammed away and are tied up by the Life Fibers.
"I hate this..." Tsumugu mentions annoyed, while Nonon tries everything she can to get out of her misere. More Ashigaru and Samurai appear.
Bullets in the meantime destroy Nui's and Satsuki's cover.
"I hate these needle copters." Satsuki reacts and peeks out of the cover. The needle copter stops firing, Nui shoots at it. Ryuko and Ichiro however face off each other on the crane. Senketsu's material moves due to the wind, just like her hair. Both opponents have just enough room to stand safely on it. Ichiro chuckles and leans onto his scythe in front of him.
"Resistance is always welcome, Matoi! However, you are not giving up so quick, do you?" he asks.
"Oh shut it, dude! You'll be wondering once these scissor blades cut you in pieces!" Ryuko reacts and attacks Ichiro with overhead attacks which he easily parries once again. Ichiro then commences an attack himself by swinging the weapon from the left, no, he actually fakes it, suddenly turns the weapon to the other side and attacks from right! Ryuko is confused by that and is almost hit by him. Her shoulder still hurts.
"The Director is cheeky..." Senketsu mumbles.
"He is, yeah. Let's see if he can react to this!" Ryuko smiles confident and atttacks randomly with quick slash attacks. These attacks take her stamina away and yet it's not worth it, Ichiro still blocks the attacks. He laughs by the look of Ryuko being annoyed by him.
"I know your combat style. Your "crazy" attempts to hurt me even in the slightest way all lead to nothing!" Ichiro reacts and attacks with the scythe again. Ryuko dodges and falls back. As she tries to parry an attack, she fails the attempt due to the sheer strength of the scythe which actually looks as light as a feather, and yet the power behind it is hardly to comprehend.
"The Life Fibers that live inside this weapon hate you more than anything in this universe! Their wrath manifests in the very scythe that will cut you in half if you do not surrender!" he yells to Ryuko. Ryuko bites her teeth together.
"He might be powerful... but even this psychopath needs to have a weak point!" Senketsu thinks loud.
"Then we'll fin... WOAH!" Ryuko screams as Life Fibers suddenly try to Jump onto Ryuko. They miss however and crawl behind Ryuko. Ryuko turns around and kicks them away, Ichiro attacks, Ryuko dodges, and with one of the scissor blades, she can cut off one of Ichiro's arms. His hand regenerates almost instantly however. Ryuko stands right in front of the crane tower. No escape.
"I got you eventually. I wonder how much pain you can endure."
"Grr..." Ryuko grumbles and thinks. Senketsu takes a look around. The needle copter still supresses Nui and Satsuki, with the first one trying to pull a few hits with her rifle, but as Nui gets shot, Satsuki needs to search quickly for a new cover. Without Nui, she can't try to hijack the helicopter.
"Satsuki is in danger..." Senketsu comments worried. Ryuko looks to Satsuki. Her cover is blowing away with each second Ryuko hesitates, and without Nui, she might get killed.
"Give me the scissor blades and surrender. Then, the needle copter will stop firing." Ichiro smiles happy about his seemingly safe victory. Ryuko then looks at Ichiro with a sinister grin.
"In your dreams." Ryuko grins, suddenly turns around and attacks the crane itself with the scissor blades which is split into halfs. Ichiro raises his eye brows, yet not for long, as now the crane starts falling apart, and the part they are on is falling directly onto the needle copter which is pretty much pierced by the crane. Ryuko holds onto the falling crane, just like Ichiro who's hold is however less safe than Ryuko's. The crane rams into the several floors of the facility, debris fall, smoke rises up, and then, the crane slams into the Couturier the four deva were fighting against. Ryuko waves at the four deva and Mikisugi who are completely shocked by the view.
"RYUKO, HOW DO YOU ALWAYS COME UP WITH THIS!?" Senketsu screams surprised. Ryuko climbs on the crane while it flies through the building, advancing the scissor blades as Ichiro tries to hold on with his scythe. As the crane slams into the machine room, the explosive charges blow up, causing several heavy explosions, obliterating the needle copter, the Couturier and Ichiro himself. Ichiro uses however the momentum to attack Ryuko inside the crane as he falls onto her, attacking with his scythe, but he realizes too late Ryuko was just waiting for this very move!
"Oh well." he embraces and then, Ryuko closes the scissor blades while he is between them, cutting him into two halfs! The following explosion blows both of them into the upper floors again. The four deva, Mikisugi and Tsumugu in the meantime are trying to escape even though Houka resists as he desperately seeks for more data. Nonon forces him out of the room however...
Ryuko coughs and takes a look around. Since the machine rooms exploded, a large fire has spread out in this short time, and smoke rises up, but thanks to Ryuko's Life Fiber body, she can endure smoke and fire better than humans. As she walks through the burning room, she see's the dead Ichiro, split apart into two parts, both hanging on the crane, and the scythe lying on the ground. He's been split vertically, meaning his face is split into two parts as well, and both parts look at Ryuko, dead, and cold.
"Welcome to earth, you clown." Ryuko says cold and turns around, holding her scissor blades safely. As she opens a door, she finds herself back in a large hall which appears to be a stitching hall.
"I hate fire." Ryuko mumbles and pulls away some of the debris. The young woman tries to orientate.
"Man, can you see anything in this smoke, Senketsu?"
"Hardly. But we've been here when we first entered the building, the balcony must be here somewhere." Senketsu thinks.
"You could be right. We gotta get up to the roof however and find Satsuki and Nui."
"Maybe you can climb up the crane?"
"Might be worth a shot." Ryuko answers and turns around.
Ichiro stands there again, trimming his bowtie.
"Really, Matoi, you can't just kill me with these little things." he says.
"Are you kidding me?!" Ryuko reacts shocked.
"The Fibers of the High Entity live inside me! You can't kill me!" he laughs and rams the scythe into the ground, destroying the ground. Ryuko jumps up and wallruns pass Ichiro.
"Ah shit!"
"Well this makes everything harder, especially here! We should run!"
"We definitely should!" Ryuko reacts and runs through the hall, with Ichiro following her patient. Ryuko kicks open a door, jumps over debris, runs through fire, slides under destroyed walls, yet her escape attempt ends quickly as she finds a dead end. Ryuko turns around and see's Ichiro moving his finger to the left and right.
"End of the line, Matoi." he chuckles and slams the scissor blades away. Ichiro attacks with his scythe. As he is about to hit Ryuko, Senketsu's eye shines, and suddenly, Ryuko turns into Life Fibers herself, avoiding the scythe attack entirely! She materializes instantly again.
"This Kamui is MARVELOUS!" Ichiro laughs proud about his creation. A shot rings out, a hole appears in Ichiro's heart area, letting him fall onto the ground. Nui sneaked up on Ichiro.
"Come on, darling!" Nui yells at Ryuko.
"Yeah, alright!" she reacts, grabs her scissor blades and follows Nui through the halls until they arrive at the balcony where Satsuki is waiting for them.
"Let's jump, this is fun!" Nui suggests and jumps off the balcony. Satsuki and Ryuko jump down as well. Nui pulls out her parasol to glide down safely, Satsuki uses her grappling hook to fly through the air, and Ryuko first holds on Nui's boots, then jumps to Satsuki, until she and Satsuki both land safely. Nui follows them briefly after.
"Gosh, Ryuko, I'm so happy for you! You can even turn into Life Fibers yourself thanks to your weird Kamui!" Nui laughs happy. Ryuko doesn't know how to react.
"Why are you looking like that!? That means that YOU can move through EVERYTHING you want! Yes, that's right, you can even watch the girls and boys take a shower! I'm envious!"
"Yeah, yeah, alright, thanks, Nui, I don't care." Ryuko answers. Nui chuckles. Satsuki watches the Nudist Beach helicopter arriving at the main manufacture, and Neo-REVOCS units approaching their position. Ryuko, Satsuki and Nui fight through the streets by moving from cover to cover as Masaru dispatched several Ashigaru units with range weapons, but they can easily get past them and arrive at the helicopter where the four deva as well as Mikisugi and Tsumugu are in. The manufacture burns down as the group leaves the city.
Ichiro leaves the burning manufacture briefly after and watches the helicopter fly away. Burns are on his body here and there, and his clothes got damaged too. He's annoyed by the Neo-REVOCS units around him that don't know what to do next.
"I'll make sure you surrender... you wouldn't want your friend Mankanshoku to be hurt, would you...?"
...
...
...
Later, around evening...
Satsuki and Ryuko sit on the surface of the island in a small resting area. It's 9:40 PM already. A few guards walk around, but other than that, it's rather calm, and some snow falls from the sky. Both have a cup of hot chocolate on the table they sit next to. Satsuki notices Ryuko thinking. Senketsu is half asleep but listens.
"What are you thinking about, Ryuko?" Satsuki asks curious.
"I... I've been kinda asking myself if we can continue our annual tradition around winter, you know?"
"We will, yes. Don't worry about it."
"I couldn't kill him. I can't explain why, I couldn't, it didn't worked. It wouldn't have been over maybe but... man, I was so close."
"Like I said, don't worry too much."
"Mhm."
"And once we did it, we both will get ourselves cotton candy, like every year. Although I admit I'm looking forward to the theatre visit the most." Satsuki smiles. Ryuko nods.
"Sounds fun." Senketsu mentions and listens up carefully.
"It is. I usually save my holidays for winter so me and Satsuki can do some cool stuff together. It just kinda has some sort of special atmosphere to it, the winter, I mean. You get out with your friends, or your family, you get something nice to eat, watch a movie at home while it's snowing outside, or you have fun shopping. That's stuff we do every year."
"It does sound enjoyable indeed." Senketsu answers. Satsuki drinks some of her chocolate, just like Ryuko.
"Mako and me never did that sadly."
"I see. I'm sorry to hear that."
"Eh, it's okay. Once Ichiro is gone, I won't care about what happened, I'll straight up visit Mako and tell her that I missed her."
"What exactly did happen?"
"I don't want to talk about it, but... to put it very short, there was a heavy misunderstanding due to this stupid sickness, that's why... why the people decided to banish me from the village."
"Oh man..."
"But we did had a lot of fun together at least. We often visited Kumano for example. You can walk next to the cliffs and get a great look at the ocean. And whenever we came back, we made photos of the landscape and pinned them in our rooms. Honestly, I'm glad Mako doesn't know anything about all of this."
"She'd get worried if she does." Senketsu answers.
"Yeah." Ryuko reacts. Satsuki watches Senketsu again.
"Oh, Ryuko, about this manga... you happen to have it?" Satsuki asks.
"I do, yeah, I just arrived at the part I stopped last time."
"That's nice... I'd like to read it when you are done."
"Sure." Ryuko smiles. Satsuki yawns.
"I'm tired. We should go down again." Satsuki suggests and empties the chocolate. Ryuko does the same and then, both women stand up and walk pass the Zeppelin that is under construction. It looks pretty solid already and probably could be used, not for battles, since there aren't any weapons yet, but it seems like the important things are working already. As they arrive in the main hall again, they find Nonon practicing some music with her musician clones, while Nui, Iori, Gamagoori and Mikisugi listen to them. Gamagoori and Mikisugi are interested and enjoy hearing the nice and clean music the clones make, while Iori is just watching and Nui is bored, with her head leaned forward and her hands under her chin. Seems like the practice play is almost over though. Mikisugi and Gamagoori clap, Iori nods, Nui just looks at the others perplexed.
"Can anyone explain to me what was so great about this? It was just music." Nui mentions with a confused grin.
"Just music!? Your clones are excellent! I love working with them!" Nonon yells back.
"Clones!? Music?! Excellent!? ME?!"
"Yup! Hah, looks like you can also learn to play some proper music!" Nonon laughs. Nui doesn't know exactly how to react about that. Whenever she got a compliment, it was by Lady Ragyo, and only her.
"Uh, thank you, I believe?" Nui asks.
"When someone compliments you, Harime, accept it. No one is trying to fool you." Iori suggests. She simply nods slowly. Nui looks at Ryuko and Satsuki who walk pass them. The Grand Couturier is about to say something just as Ryuko looks at her, visible on her mouth opening up for a brief moment, but apparently, Nui hesitates. Eventually, she just doesn't say anything and plays with her hands while smiling. Ryuko and Satsuki enter the dormitories.
"I believe Nui wanted to say thank you." Satsuki says.
"For what?"
"Because you saved her life. When you did this crane move, she told me she doesn't know how to react to you saving her."
"..."
"Why did you do that, if I may ask?" Satsuki asks careful.
"... I rather kill her myself, that's all."
"You seem hesitant though."
"I'm not."
"Don't lie on me."
"Satsuki, can we not talk about this now? I do not wish to talk about Nui." Ryuko pleads. Satsuki hesitates a second or two, then nods.
"Alright. I don't want to force you to anything." Satsuki smiles.
"Thanks."
"Of course. I will sleep now. Have a good night, sis." Satsuki says and hugs Ryuko.
"Good night, Satsuki..." Ryuko answers and watches Satsuki entering her room. Ryuko goes to sleep as well...
...
...
...
"Send a unit to Mie. Find the Mankanshokus and bring them to Neo-REVOCS..."
AN: Oh oh, looks like Ichiro has an innocent family as a target now. Like I said, Chapter 15 "Desiring Purpose" will come out in about two or three weeks unless we experience a miracle. Don't worry, it will come. :) I'd be very grateful about a review! See you next time! ... man, am I glad I finished this chapter, really, I felt bad for leaving you guys in the dark for so long. :D But yeah, the next chapter will come. :)